Chelsea vs Porto
The fourth best team in England against the Portuguese champions in the Champions League quarter-final and a contest being played in Spain!
What does that tell us?
Well, it naturally shows that the strength of investment in the English Premier League far outweighs most other leagues which is why Portugal’s best will almost always be underdogs against England’s leading clubs.
It also gives us a glimpse of why proposals for a revamped competition are even more geared towards the established, financially-rich clubs and will worsen football’s inequality.
To give you an example: when Ajax won the Dutch league two seasons ago – the same campaign in which they were seconds away from reaching the Champions League Final – they received around £7 million for their efforts.
The team that finished bottom of the Premier League that season, Huddersfield Town, were rewarded in the region of £50 million.
Anyway, that debate is for another day.
For now, the focus is on Champions League highlights in Sevilla.
Talking Points
It’s effectively a re-run of last week’s first leg which Chelsea won 2-0.
The same venue – Seville – because of Covid-19 restrictions but this time Chelsea will have the home dressing room and, of course, have the advantage of two away goals.
After delivering what could well prove the knockout blow, the west Londoners now appear close to a first Champions League semi-final in seven years.
Porto could barely believe it. A 2-0 defeat would have been painful enough anyway, but this was at “home” and, for much of the night, they had played like they were too, on the front foot and racking up more than a dozen attempts on Chelsea’s goal.
So same time, same place and anything can happen.
Remember, this is a Porto side which sent Juventus packing in the surprise of the last 16 but, of course, Chelsea showed their own credentials as they comfortably saw off La Liga pacesetters Atletico Madrid themselves.
The Portuguese champions kept alive their hopes of retaining the Primeira League at the weekend when they won 2-0 at midtable Tondela, although they still trail leaders Sporting Lisbon (who also have a game in hand) by five points.
Chelsea, meanwhile, turned on the style, netting three times in the opening half an hour on their way to a 4-1 romp at London neighbours Crystal Palace.
They are yet to lose on the road under Thomas Tuchel (played nine, won seven, drawn two) in all competitions.
Six of those matches have been in the Premier League and the only Blues manager to avoid defeat in his first six away games in the competition was Felipe Scolari (unbeaten in first 10).
Even if Porto are more productive in front of goal than they were in the first leg, they need two just to draw level in the tie, let alone keeping a clean sheet themselves.
They have not knocked an English team out of the competition since the year they went onto win the tournament, 2004, when they beat Manchester United 3-2 on aggregate.
The form book, let alone the difference in financial resources, suggests this year will be too much of an ask once again.
History
These two sides had not met until 2004.
Then, when Porto were reigning European champions, they traveled to Chelsea who had just recruited their winning manager in Jose Mourinho and influential defenders in Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.
They all played for the west Londoners in a 3-1 win that night against a Porto side which included other future Chelsea players, including Maniche, Jose Bosingwa and Ricardo Quaresma.
The home scorers were Alexei Smertin, Didier Drogba and John Terry with Benni McCarthy replying for Porto.
That was the first of nine meetings to date and Chelsea have won six of them with two Porto successes and one draw.
Chelsea have won all four on ‘home’ turf – at Stamford Bridge – including most recently in the group stages in 2015 when an own goal and a Willian strike sealed a 2-0 victory.
Betting Tip
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Chelsea vs Porto | Over 2.50 @ 2.00 |
| April 14, 03:00 (GMT+8) |
It’s not over but the SBOTOP Champions League betting odds suggest it is.
Chelsea are firm favourites with both 1X2 @ 1.84 and Asian Handicap -0.75 @ 2.08.
Porto are adrift priced 1X2 @ 4.30 and Asian Handicap +0.50 @ 2.09.
By a repeat of the 2-0 first leg scoreline, a Chelsea success will pay out @ 8.50.
If Porto can level matters on aggregate by the same scoreline, Correct Score 0-2 is available @ 29.00.
I am expecting a few more goals at the same venue.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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